Sunday, 21 December 2014

Gradually we approach the end of this amazing year 2014 and
if you are like me, when you look back, you can recount so many reasons why you
should be grateful to God. We may not have achieved all that we set out to
achieve this year, but we are by no means anywhere near where we started at the
beginning of the year.

First, there is the gift of life. That I am able to sit in
front of this laptop and type without any aid or support is a unique testimony
of its own.

In this year 2014 by divine arrangement, I walked into
purpose and began to pastor the most amazing set of human beings anyone can
find on the surface of the earth. I don’t see them as congregation; I call them
family because that’s what Treasure Place is to me. It’s been 7 months of
resounding testimonies and increased grace as God has kept ALL His promises to
us as individuals and a church.

In this same year, I embarked on projects that seemed larger
than life and I look back from where I am now and can’t even explain how we
were able to complete each of those projects.

In this same year, my mum clocked 50 though she still looks
35 lol. God has been good to me and my family, He has shown up for us when we
least expected Him to. He has been our strong tower, our shield, our buckler,
our friend and indeed our Father. I am a living witness to the fact that God is
indeed the father of the fatherless and the husband to the widow because He has
indeed carried all our burdens.

I can go on and on about the things that God has done for me
this year, all the sheets on this word document might not be enough to capture
them all. But I felt a need to help someone recount all that God has done for
them this year and find a reason to lift up their voices to the heavens in
thanksgiving.

I cannot close out on this write up without mentioning the
greatest of all the testimonies this year. In this year 2014, I got married to
the most amazing woman on the surface of the earth. Words are never enough
every time I try to describe her and if you know me well, that’s a rarity but
Sunmi does that to me, she leaves me speechless ALWAYS. I can only but thank
God for the gift of an amazing wife, a virtuous woman and most especially, my
friend. And by virtue of this union, I have embraced a new family, outstanding in-laws. They are the best in-laws anyone could have asked for walai.

It has been a fruitful/productive year with a lot of high
points. That doesn’t mean that the year didn’t come with its challenges. What life
would it have been without the usual bumps on the way? However, despite the
daunting challenges, God saw us through it all.

This is me saying; Father, I am grateful for all you have
done, all you are doing and for all You will yet to. I do not take your tender
mercies and your loving kindness for granted. I love you with all my heart,
with all I have and with all that is within me. I will forever serve You and
these are the declarations of my heart via my mouth (or my fingers as it
where).

Is there anything you are grateful to God for this year? Why
don’t you take a few minutes and let Him know how grateful you are of all that
He has done.

Sunday, 30 November 2014

If you are like me, Sunday is the most busy and productive
day of the week and is usually packed full, with every meeting almost as
important as the other and attendance mandatory. So I took out what I thought
was going to be a few minutes from my very tight Sunday schedule to pick up my
permanent voters card, all I can say is thank God for favour.

The first group of people I approached to enquire about what
the process was, all had a look of agitation and pent up anger on their faces,
so I threaded carefully as I approached them. “this thing is not rocket science”
one of them kept repeating, “for crying out loud, I have been here since 11.30
and this people are making it seem like there is no better way to handle this
voters card ****”.

In situations like this, I have learnt to step back, observe
and respond only when comments are passed my way. But as I stood there and a
few minutes turned into a couple of hours, I began to feel the frustration of
the crowd, anger began to well up within me… I pause for a second and thought
about it again, this nonsense is happening because people like you and I have
refused to take responsibility for our governance and wellbeing. We have
abdicated power to old greedy men that should be in retirement homes waiting
for their great grand-children to come visiting and the few young ones that
have been privileged to walk that corridor of power, have been blinded by the
corruption of office and like he-cocks in pursuit of a hen, have lost all sense
of direction and common sense with focus on only one thing; grab, grab and grab
some more before the oil dries up.

I have a few questions:

1.Why did it take FOUR years for a voter’s card that I registered for to be produced?

2.After the eventual production of the card, why did
INEC have to cut it so close to election-day to “eventually” share the voter’s
card?

3.The passport photograph that is being collected
from people who registered for a card FOUR
years ago, whose faces also appear on the permanent card, who have come in
person to pick up their cards, what is it going to be used for?

4.If you tell me it is for record purposes as I assume
some of you might be thinking, what happened to the biometrics data that was
obtained from me FOUR years ago? Or is
that one history now?

5.Why were those INEC officials taking records on
sheets of paper in this 21st century? Isn’t there a database with
the information of everyone that registered for this exercise FOUR years ago that the officials could
refer to online and verify the details of citizens?

6.What stops us from doing like an online
pre-verification exercise and make the collection process a walk-in exercise?

Okay, let me stop ranting and let’s talk solutions.

I think it is time we start taking actions, we need credible
leaders, that fact is no longer up for debate. And like someone clearly pointed
out yesterday, I don’t know how many of you reading this right now that know
the name of their constituency councilor. Posters are already flying around of
people we do not have a clue what their credibility is, some of these
contestants don’t have a track record from anywhere be it private or public
enterprise but their pictures keep popping up every other four years. We need to hold someone accountable for their words and take responsibility of following through to ensure that they meet their obligation to the populace.

I have decided that I will start with my constituency(I don't even have a clue yet which constituency I belong to lol, but I will find out),
then move on to my local government. I will find out what the four year agenda of the
contestants are, listen to their manifestos, make my choice and VOTE. After the elections, I will also
follow up to ensure that the person in office (whether or not he/she is the
individual I voted for) will keep to the dictates of his/her manifesto. We will
use all legal means possible to follow through on our demands; it is high time
we hold our office holders responsible for their actions.

You will hear more from me on this matter, trust me on that.
But I implore you to take responsibility of the welfare of this nation, if not
for yourself, for the sake of generation after you. Let us all go out and vote
come 2015, and make our votes count.

Sunday, 2 November 2014

It’s been a long while I posted a blog on this page and I sincerely
apologize for that. between my last post and now, the “She” that I referred to in
a few of my previous posts has become my wife *smiley* and God has given us the
great task of leading an amazing set of people in Treasure Place. I can indeed
say that out of the race of a group of believers, God has raised a group of men
and women that the world will get to meet in no too distant a time. Needless to
say that God has indeed been faithful.

As a preacher, I have over time, found out that it is easier
to preach the word to others than to practice the contents of what we preach. I
have had cause to counsel so many people on various life issues and when I find
myself in that same place, I tend to forget the words from scriptures that I so
easily shared with others.

This last week was one of the worst weeks I have had to
endure in a very long time, a lot happened that had me angry and frustrated and
just when I was about to lash out, a calm voice said ‘healer, heal thyself’.

That was what I needed to reset my brain. I began to drill
down to the root cause of the anger and ask myself salient questions like; why
are you angry? Is this anger directed at a person or a situation? What does
scripture say about anger? How have you complied with what scripture says about
anger? Based on the things you have told people in this situation before, how
can you rate your response now compared to their response? Is there anything you can do to
remedy the situation? When are you going to take action?

The moment I completed this self-evaluation, and began to
take actions, it was like a burden lifted off my shoulders.

When scripture says that laughter does good like medicine, I
can completely relate with that. I wear a smile all the time, it is not
necessarily because all is well at all times, no. I smile because though all
may not be well, the enemy is expecting me to wear a frown and it tickles me to
know that my smile frustrates him.

Some events occur in our lives and we respond in certain
ways to those events. Though we are Christians, it is understandable that we
are first humans and most times our tendency is to respond to incidents in our human
nature. However, the ultimate response to life’s events will be the “Christ-like”
response and this requires some conscious effort on our own part as believers.

Decide today to respond to every matter in a way that is
befitting a child of God. Like the popular saying goes, you can always ask
yourself before responding to any matter; “What would Jesus do?” and if you are
not so sure what Jesus would do or in doubt how He would have reacted, you can always
tow my Pastor’s line and ask from scriptures; “What did Jesus Say?”

It’s a new month that the Lord has made that we should
rejoice and be glad in it, do have a great week ahead.

Wednesday, 25 June 2014

Good Morning my sweet friends and family, trust you all have
been doing very well since the last time we interacted on this platform. I know
it’s been a while and I apologize for the long silence, life has been happening
lol.

Talking about life, I read something this morning that
inspired me to write this.

I was driving to work this morning and for some reason I just
began to thank God out loud for everything. For my family, my friends,
colleagues, job, ministry, my Fiancée (soon to be wife #winks) for everything especially my family. Most
of you don’t know this, but I lost my dad a little over 5 years ago and truth
is, I am a witness to the fact that God is the Father of the fatherless and a
Husband to the widow. My dad was one of those super dads that made sure you
lacked nothing as in nothing. We had the best of everything life could offer
and he ensured that that remained the standard despite the fact that he had to
on so many occasions, go without some basics that was obvious to us that he
needed. He was a super dad like that. There were the once in a while ups and
down that is synonymous with life, but on a scale of 1 to 10, I had a 9.7
childhood, leaving the 0.3 for all the spanking that is forever engraved in my
mind lol.

It got me thinking about those not so great times growing
up, and how we would be at home with nothing to eat except pap and buns and
someone would walk in with their problems and pour everything out on my dad expecting
that they have come to the one man that could solve the problems of all his
extended family members. I would scuff in my mind and walk away. But somehow,
after he is done with them, they are all smiles and might even join in on the
almost nothing that we had (that was very annoying, don’t know how my mum
copped #I’mnotwicked #justsaying lol).

We read about the successes of people on the pages of
newspapers, we see their glam pictures on glossy magazines and this leaves us
wanting and desiring to be successful (which is a very good thing). When we get
to church, the bombardment continues. Everyone or almost everyone looks so prim
& proper, the car parks are a sight to behold, everything and everyone literarily
glitters and you are left amazed. There is barely any channel of the television
that you flip to that doesn’t throw glamorous, well photo-shopped &
packaged people at us, but what those well groomed folks in church, pictures,
magazines and channels don’t show us is the low moments that these people go
through.

Let me ask you this question; does it ever cross your mind
that everyone, I mean everybody has their low times?

We may not come out to broadcast it to the entire world, but
everyone does have their low times. What do you think leads people to indulge
in vices like drug abuse, domestic violence etc?

So as I thanked God this morning, it hit me real hard that I
am not where I am today because I am the most priviledged or most endowed
person. I have had my fair share of hardships and lives issues. My mum, my
siblings and I have been through experiences that most families may not have been
able to withstand and I have realized that it is only the grace and mercies of
God that has brought us through it all.

We are where we are today, I am where I am today because I have
God by my side in my ship with me all the way on this journey. Jesus said “I will
never leave nor forsake you” and He sure has kept that promise to me and my
family.

So I will like to ask you a simple, life changing question;
Do you have Jesus as the captain of your ship? Have you made Him the Lord and
Master of your life?

If you have, I want to congratulate you and encourage you to
hold steadfastly to Him, He has never disappointed anyone that I know, He is
not about to start with you.

If you haven’t, I would like you to take a step of faith
today and invite Jesus into your life as your Lord and personal Saviour. Just say
this short prayer with me; Lord Jesus, I come to you this day accepting that I am
a sinner and that you died on the cross for me. I confess my sins to you and invite
you into my heart today asking that you be the Lord and Master of my life. Thank
you for accepting me Lord, in Jesus’ mighty name I pray, Amen!

I want to congratulate you for taking this step and I know
your life will never remain the same. Kindly seek a bible believing church near
you and actively participate in the church’s activities.

Monday, 2 June 2014

A few days ago, I experienced a rush of emotions that was
alien to me. Thinking about it now, I know what the root cause was, but I also
think that I could have handled it better. Anyways, I learnt my lessons and I
want to share that with you.

We are emotional beings and that means that once in a while,
emotions kick in and we behave or respond in a manner that is not consistent
with our character. I learnt this week that it is very important that you have
a good grip of your emotions and don’t let them control you.

I have been very stressed for a few weeks now jostling a lot
of things together at once and just when I thought I had everything under
control, all hell broke loose and things went south all at once. Inside, I was
a mess but outside, I maintained a calm exterior while trying to resolve the
many issues that were arising almost on a per minute basis each of them
requiring urgent attention.

I picked Madam up after work this faithful day to attend our
counseling session which has been running every week for a while now, and I
can’t remember for sure what triggered it, but I just sunk into a mood which
gradually drained the smile from me and made me suddenly angry. Madam noticed
and was trying to draw me out of it and instead of taking the outlet she was
offering me, I allowed myself sink deeper into the bad mood. As if in response,
my car started to misbehave in the middle of the road and that triggered more
anger because the car just returned from servicing and should be in a great
condition (I think that’s why we spend so much to service them so that they
would serve us better right?) well, that wasn’t the case for me.

I was to host an online service on Twitter, and we had
agreed that when it was time, Madam would drive so that I could tweet. She took
the wheels and just at that very moment, my network provider that claims to be
everywhere you go decided to depart from my car and my tweets weren’t going
through. All that could go wrong was going wrong at the same time and somehow I
knew I had the power to stop it all but I just couldn’t get myself to snap out
of it.

I still can’t explain how Kamsi had the patience to just
keep turning the ignition each time the car went off which was like every other
minute and she just carried on as if it wasn’t a big deal. Bottom line, I was
very vexed but also, I knew that my anger wasn’t towards any of the petty
things that were going on; it was more deep seated than that so I just kept
quiet and tried to blank out.

We got to my Pastor’s place, and while we were waiting, I
heard that Still Small voice say to me; “Come
unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest”.

That was exactly what I needed cos I realized that I had
been so pre-occupied trying to figure out how to resolve all the issues ahead
of me and in front of me that I forgot to be grateful for ALL He has done and
there I was making effort on my own, exerting energy, forming super-man when
all I needed to do was go to Him in with all my worries.

Are you in that spot where nothing seems to be working? You
don’t have a clue where your next help will come from? Are businesses that were
doing exceptionally well all of a sudden disintegrating right before your eyes?
The relationship that was rock solid, all of a sudden isn’t working out? I want
to assure you that there is hope.

I don’t know what the
issue may be that has gotten you so down trodden and heavy hearted. Sleepless
nights may have become a norm for you and maybe it has even made your blood
pressure to shoot up, I have good news for you, Christ is calling you today to
lay it all down at His feet and draw near unto Him. Believe in Him and trust
Him enough to come through for you. My God will come through for you if you
believe.

It may not make logical sense and trust me, most times it
doesn’t. but all God is asking of you is to trust Him enough to hand over your
worries to Him.

The moment I calmed down, handed everything over to Him in
prayer and apologized to Madam, as we were leaving the venue of the meeting,
the same car that was giving issues while we were coming, did not disturb me
through that long journey. Network returned to the phone and all was well
again.

I learnt the huge lesson never to let my emotions get the
better of me rather in everything through prayers and supplications, I should
make my worries known unto God and that is the model I have adopted.

What about you?

Remember how He asked if any of us by worrying have been
able to add a cubic centimeter to our hair? Well, I am yet to meet a man who
can say that worry did him/her good.

Wednesday, 16 April 2014

Recent weeks have been filled with numerous news of
killings, bombings and kidnapping of innocent children, and all of a sudden
social media and all other form of decimating information is agog with the
lamentation of people bemoaning the sad occurrences.

In the same vein, there has been celebrations and marriages,
men wining and dining with careless abandon, customized branded gadgets being
doled out as if they were a penny per dozen (I’m not beefing #justsaying).

While some partake in the balling, others mourn their losses
and a great number gist and complain about all the events going on, raining
dozens and millions of abuses on government and public office holders. Put together,
my country is in a state and no one seems to know where help would come from.

You would think the international community would have the
response to the issues that seek to drown our leadership, but no, they solicit
our support to help out with the situation in Ukraine. Which tells me that they
perceive that even in our purported state of crisis, we are better than most.

I thought deeply about all these things going on, and the
Holy Spirit led me to Matthew chapter 24 and I began to read from verse 3 all
the way to verse 44.

So many of us have asked numerous questions with regards to
the events in the country right now; what is the government doing? Why are the
leaders so incompetent? Don’t they care about the killings going on? Are we
such cowards that we can’t rebel and fight back or even protest? What is the
church doing? Why are great men of God in this nation silent on this matter?
The questions go on and on. But I will implore you to please read Matthew 24.

There are so many things that our Lord Jesus outlined as
“The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age” and those are the things that
are happening right now. My interest really isn’t in outlining what the signs
He mentioned are, I am more interested in what He advised us to do during this
time.

First in verse 4 of Matthew 24, He said; “Take heed that no one deceives you…”
this is a call to seek caution and not be deceived by the many suggestions that
people will make during this period. You will hear all sorts, verse 6 talks
about wars and rumours of wars, but our Lord says that we should not be
troubled. For me, this explained the silence of some renowned clerics on these
matters arising.

Verse 12 talks about lawlessness abounding, I think this is prevalent
in my country where traffic lights are for decoration and it is difficult to
separate the law enforcement agencies from crime as both seem to be working
hand-in-hand. It also says that the love of many will grow cold, which is why
people can go about bombing and killing innocent human beings without any form
of fear or recourse.

But verse 13 is where I am going to, it says “he who endures to the end shall be saved”.

I have been asked what I think the church should do about
all the violence going on in the country, as much as I would have loved us to
take up arms and take this war to the enemies camp and show them that we are
soldiers of the cross not just by mouth but also in deed lol, I would rather we
adopt the guidelines as instructed us by our Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to be more observant and security conscious as
Christians, verse 15-22 captures it for me. If you hear of these things, flee
first and ask questions later, be reasonable and aware of your environment. You
owe it to yourself and God to endure to the end.

Will the bad news stop, I don’t think so. Will they continue
to fight and kill people (not only in Nigeria)? Yes, I believe so ‘cos if it
were not be so, Christ wouldn’t have said so. I also think that these types of occurrences
will get more severe as the years go by.

So my advice/opinion? Stay safe, be alert, do a lot of
watching while you pray. Stay strong and endure to the end. Trust me, the gory
sights and pictures are enough to push any man to his wits end and break even
the strongest of emotionally stable men, but we need not relent on our faith
and our stand in Christ.

For those of us that would have loved to push back and do
something radical, remember Peter tried to push back when he pulled his sword
and cut off the ear of one of the men that was harassing his master. It is
important to note that Jesus did not support Peter even though Peter was
fighting for Him in quote. It might seem like a docile position to take, but we
have the privilege to have been fore warned about these occurrences. I don’t think
God wants us to fight in arms; our battle is in the place of the spirit. Stay strong
in your spirit man, do not relent in prayers for yourself, your loved ones and
your beloved Nation, be observant of your immediate environment always, pay
attention to that still small voice within you. Let our mantra be; “What doesn’t
break us makes us stronger”.

My God will give us the grace to remain strong to the end.

I wish you a Happy Easter celebration in advance, let the
reason for the season not be lost on you.

Wednesday, 5 March 2014

I promised to post some articles I wrote during the holidays, so here goes another one of them, I look forward to getting your responses and being of help any way I can.

Cheers...

Life as unpredictable as it is, is really worth living if it
were not to be so, the proportion of people that give up on life to those that
fight for dear life would have been much higher. Don’t get me wrong, I am aware
that in the past few years, suicide rate all over the world has increased
astronomically but this doesn’t negate the fact that Life is worth living and
worth living well.

I needed to write this because recent events, discussions
and Coaching sessions have opened my eyes to the fact that Negative Emotions
are major deterrents to living the good life God has promised us.

A major part of life experiences are those events that literarily rip our hearts
out (most people avoid discussing them) like the loss of a loved one, a cheating husband or wife, a broken
relationship, a wayward child, disappointments, an unexpected loss of a job,
the list goes on and on but you catch my drift. These events occur and most
people don’t know how to move past this point. There have been instances where
the person just shuts down and shuts everyone else out of their lives and in some extreme cases, wish
death upon themselves.

I very recently had one of those heart retching experiences
and believe you me, it wasn’t funny. You know it is way easier to give other
people advice and tell them to do this or say that or load them up with
scriptures that will “encourage” their faith, but when you are the one in that
situation, all those wise sayings seem to run away. You just find out that you
are blank and it seems to suck away the zeal to pursue a good life. Questions
like; Lord, why me? Why do I even bother? Am I the only one? Begin to arise and
more often than not, you don’t get immediate answers.

It’s the holidays so I have some time and I decided to
document some lessons I took out of this experience and share it with you,
seven of them stood out, there were so many more but I would share just seven.

I had asked myself some of those questions mentioned earlier
and so many others but each time I drew blanks so I decided to take a long walk
and clear my head. It was during this walk that lesson number one came:

1)Never make long term decisions when you are Hurting:
If you are yet to make sense of the situation, please don’t make any long term
decisions, even if they are urgent decisions, you can delay making them by a
few seconds, minutes or hours, you need the perspective and clarity you might
gain within that time. Decisions made while angry or grieving are usually
emotional decisions and more often than not, they are the wrong decisions.
Clear your head, calm down, sort out whatever emotion you are feeling at that
point; the anger, grief, disappointment, etc take care of that first before
making that decision.

2)Don’t compress your emotions, it might lead to depression:
It is important that you let out that emotion, don’t try to compress it, it is
very dangerous to do so. Now when I say let out the emotions, I didn’t imply
that you should go around punching people or breaking stuff or throwing
tantrums (which are some of the popular ways people let out emotions) NO, I
meant you should seek out a reasonable way of letting out the emotion. We are
all wired differently so find what works for you (within the confines of that
which is sane) and use such means to de-stressify yourself. I would either take
a very long walk or hit the gym and push weights till I’m burnt out or watch
football and scream at players that can't hear me lol but that’s me, find what works for you.

3)Talk about it: African men or men generally they say are not expressive most
especially when it comes to verbal expression, but it would help you a great
deal if you talk about what you are going through and how it makes you feel.
Women are more likely to resonate with this because of the way they are wired,
but men also need to adopt this too. So you can choose to see a professional
Counselor, Life Coach, your Pastor, also you can talk to your personal confidant
provided him/her isn’t the reason you are hurting. Sometimes, talking about it
alone can do you a world of good. You can also talk about it with the person
involved assuming it was someone that hurt you, but be sure to have sorted your
emotions out before doing this, you need a clear head to have the right
perspectives.

4)Forgive and Let go: This is the part that everyone
seems to have an issue with, question always is; how can I forget about this? I
hear people say I can forgive, but I don’t think I can forget, which is why I
used the word “Let go”. When you let something go, popular saying is that if it
is really yours it will come back, that’s not the point I want to make with
that, the way I see it, you letting go reduces the influence the thing has over
you hence you will notice that it hurts less as the hours or maybe days go by.
The way it works for me is that I forgive in advance then gradually work on the
letting go part and trust me, it helps. But you also need to be careful if it’s
a loved one that hurt you because you can let go and literarily let go lol and
I am not sure that’s what we are aiming to do. So if it is a loved one that hurt you, you let go of
the event that occurred and not the person. There are also instances where you need
to let the person go so as to aid your healing process, I would advocate that
you seek professional counsel on this.

5)Have Faith and Trust again: In hurting situations,
Trust is always one of the first things to go and this is very (I think I
should add another very to that) difficult to regain. You feel like you were
let down and this affects your Trust in God and Trust in people depending on
who you decide to blame, but if you have taken step 4 above, it is very
important that you step out on a limb and trust again. This will really help
your healing process, it makes you feel vulnerable but if you can look beyond
that immediate feeling of vulnerability into the future, you will find that the
healing process won’t be so hard anymore.

6)See the Bigger Picture: If it didn’t consume you
or kill you, then I believe God still has something planned for you. Two
scriptures come to mind; “For I know the thoughts I have for you, thoughts of
good and not of evil to give you an expected end” and “Behold ALL Things work
together for your good to those that love Him that are the called according to
His purpose”. A certain someone believes I have abused that second scripture,
but it helps me find perspective to everything hence I don’t get too
disappointed when some things happen, I just categorize them as “All things”
lol. You need to see the bigger picture, though this weeping is enduring for
this night, your joy will definitely come in the morning.

7)Pray in the Holy Ghost: It might be difficult to
frame the right words or pray according to His will when you are hurting, so I will advocate that
you pray in The Holy Ghost. I sat there looking at the TV screen, blank, not
really seeing anything but my lips were moving, praying in tongues (thank God
for Spirit filled understanding friends who just let me be and didn't drag me into the football arguments, everyone needs them #justsaying). After
a very long while of praying in that position, I had this peace within me, I didn't know what next to do but I
just knew that everything was going to be okay. The Holy Spirit is called The Comforter for
a reason, He understands what you are going through and knows exactly what to
say and do to sooth you.

Time has passed, I am still hurting (not as much anymore), I
am healing pretty fast and I am almost at that point where it really doesn’t
matter anymore, I am Living the Good Life and most importantly, I am Happy.

So what is that thing hurting you, do you want to talk about
it? If you do, You can send me a mail onyekwere.obinnaya@yahoo.com
or follow me on Twitter @IamOluwaObinna or via BBM – 7C889941

Monday, 24 February 2014

I sit down most times and wonder how different life would be
if only we could live and practice the things that are contained in the Word of
God as it is written for us, life would be so much easier and the enemy won’t
have any room to steal our joy. There are so many professing Christians these
days but not many “Christians”.

Don’t mind me and my opening line, just wanted to share some
thoughts that were going through my mind just before I slept last night.

I hope you have moved up higher from where you were the last
time I posted on this blog? If you haven’t, don’t panic, there is enough room
up here for everyone and your spot is right here waiting for you to step up and
occupy it.

If you live in Lagos
like I do, you travel a lot because the time it takes you to get to Victoria
Island from Ajah, is the same time it would take someone to travel from Aba to
Owerri #justsaying. So I crossed the Atlantic on Sunday to visit the Mrs, who
by the way is doing well, thank you for asking lol and we had a great time
together. As the evening was winding down, we decided to get ice cream just
before I dropped her off at home. Coldstone just opened on Toyin Street (they
have to pay me for this advert) and that was where we headed. We got what we
needed, continued with the jisting and laughing in the car all the way to her
house (bottom line, we had fun #don'tbeef).

Just as I wanted to come down from the car, I reached for my
phone and couldn’t find it, searched the entire car and it was not there. We
called the number and it rang but no one answered, then we concluded we must
have forgotten it at Coldstone. We had to drive all the way back and the same
car that was all bubbly a few minutes ago was silent. I can’t imagine what was
going through her mind, all I could think of was having to buy a new phone
which wasn’t funny at all because the budget currently is stretched as it where.

But somewhere during that drive, I heard the Holy Spirit
ask; “are you acting or reacting? Have you forgotten so soon that the devil
comes to steal, kill and… what would be the right thing to do in a situation
like this?” It was like that was what I needed to jolt me back and immediately
I sent angels to secure the phone and keep it for me, I thought, if it was
still ringing, then it wasn’t stolen, nothing can steal my Joy, not even my missing phone. At this point, I relaxed but still couldn't talk cos I know madam was lost in her thoughts.

We got to Coldstone, asked the cashiers but no one saw the
phone, just at the point we were about to step out, a guy walks up to us and
said; “Hi guys, you forgot this on your way out, I tried to come after you but
you had gone”. You can imagine the relief and the gratitude, we thanked the guy
profusely and headed home, but the chit chat and the laughter that we were sharing was
gone just like that.

How many times have you been in a place where you are all
fired up and having a good time and something happens that just deflates the
energy? The enemy is always seeking to steal your joy but you must be at alert
to ensure that he doesn’t succeed, guard your heart and joy jealously, don’t
give the devil room to truncate your joy. It is your responsibility to ensure
that you remain Joy-Full always.

With these thoughts in mind, I consciously initiated discussions that brought the laughter back. We were both yawning by the time we got to her house, but she had a smile on her face when she
stepped out of the car and I left her though tired, but smiling.

The devil does not have the capacity to steal your Joy, he
only gets what you give him. I employ you not to give him the time of the day. Consistently make an effort to retain your Joy, though the storms may rage, it is only but for a while. consciously speak Joy into every situation in your life.

Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Hi, I know you have a clearer picture what season of your
life you are in now, and if you don’t, I know you are working on it. One
guiding principle that can help you figure it out is to observe your quiet time
and “inflect” ie look inwards and think deeply. Open up your heart and allow
The Holy Spirit guide you through the process, and please do not cast any
thought away as unimportant, at the best, write them down somewhere you might
need to come back to it in the nearest future. I pray for you that God will
order your thoughts IJMN. Like I would always say, thoughts are things.

I woke up with this persistent nudge to write this morning
and when I asked what I was to write about, I was told “a follow up to your
last post” and 1Kings 18:41 dropped into my spirit.

For 3years, Israel had been in a season of drought and the
land was devastated. This drought was as a result of the proclamation of a man
over the land. Note that Ahab was the principal defaulter here (1 Kings
16:29-33) but the entire land suffered for 3years as a result of the errors of
her leader.

This tells me that the seasons of your life can also be
determined by factors beyond your personal control.

This morning I stand as a messenger and as Elijah declared
to Ahab and Israel, I declare to you and this Nation, “Go up, eat and drink;
for there is the sound of abundance of rain”. A new season heralds upon us. By the
Spirit of God, I cancel the effects of every negative proclamation that has
been made over this Nation, the same tongues that spoke evil over this Nation
shall declare good over her by the authority in Christ Jesus.

You need to prepare for the next season. Farmers sow towards
the end of the dry season, in anticipation of the rains, Prepare for your New
Season.

After making the declaration, Elijah went up to mount Carmel
and bowed down to the ground in prayers, Jer 29:7 asks us to pray for the peace
of our Jerusalem, this Nation is our Jerusalem, I make a Clarion call for a few
worshipers who will join me on this mountain and cry out for this Nation that
the Peace of God that passes human understanding may reign over this Nation.

Remember that the seasons of your life can be determined by
the Season your Nation is in.

Tuesday, 14 January 2014

It’s my first post in 2014 and I am really excited about it.
I had written so many articles during the holidays, but for some reason didn’t
have a release to post them yet so I’ll be doing so in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, let’s
delve into the koko of the matter.

This post would have come last week, but I didn’t want it to
be lost amidst all the New Year greetings. There might be the tendency for it
to be regarded as another New Year post and hence meted the same treatment most
folks give New Year resolutions lol #justsaying.

Coming into 2014, I was thinking; it’s a New year, so what?
What now, what happens next, what’s the way forward? You know all those
questions you ask yourself when you are evaluating your life. Sitting there evaluating the failures, setbacks, successes and progress made in 2013 and trying to set a focus for the New Year, something dropped in my spirit; I Am a
God of SEASONS.

It didn’t make much sense at the time "God of Seasons", but as I eventually sat down
to meditate on that one line, I began to gain more insights into it.

So I asked; does that mean we shouldn’t celebrate the New
Year or what, ‘cos You made it sound like I am making too much out of the new
year? I would rather you celebrate that you know what season of your life you
are in was the response I got. Sensing that I was threading on deep territory, I decided to seek help from scriptures; Lord show me what you are trying to say from scriptures I
asked. 2Peter 3:8 “Beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord
one day is AS a thousand years, and
a thousand years AS one day.” The
words “AS” jumped at me, in His eyes, the days and the years are both
interchangeable, they really don’t differ from each other, but seasons count.

WOW!!!

I was seeing this in this light for the very first time, my
senses were piqued to dig deeper. So teach me about seasons Lord; I will show
you but a few, the rest is up to you to decipher. I accepted the deal, and by
the time we were half way through I had enough study material to last me a year
let me share some “Seasons/Times” with you:

Eccl 3:1-8 will be the obvious place to start from, it talks
about a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to
harvest, a time to gain and a time to lose, etc. I want you to read it, did you
notice the pattern? It’s like doing words and opposite in primary school right?
Take a minute and think about it, are there events in your life within the past one year
that have seemed like words and opposite? Maybe I should share more scriptures;

Ps 37:39 talks about the time of Trouble, same Ps 37:19
talks about the time of Evil. Jer 8:12 talks about the time of Punishment, Jer
15:11 talks about the time of Adversity, Jer 18:23 talks about the time of
Anger, Jesus Himself at some point told His disciples that His time had not
come and when His time drew nigh, He told them, My time is at hand. Jesus knew
what time it was, He knew His time, do you know yours?

I sat with this, and Eccl 9:11 began to make more sense;
Time and Chance happens to them all... ONLY
MEN WHO KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS WILL SEIZE THE CHANCE WHEN THEY SEE IT. Little wonder sorcerers and seers are still in business, because from time Immemorial, men have been seeking to know the Times and Seasons so as to align their actions accordingly.

God told Abraham in Gen 18:10 “I will return to you
according to the Time of Life…” so Sarah though she had passed the age of child
bearing and her womb was dead as it where, but because it was “The Time of
Life” received life in her inner organs to bear a son.

Can you discern what season your life is in? Many religious
organizations have called for a fast and everyone is praying along with prayer
points that have been set out as guidelines, but I ask you a personal question,
have you aligned your prayer requests to match the season of your life that you
are in? you need to be deliberate about this, sit down, take a pen and paper
and chronicle the past few years of your life, do you recognize a pattern? Can
you from that pattern discern what season it is for you?

As for me, God is taking me back to my roots, to when I
first loved Him, that’s the season I am in now, a season of Absolute Dependence and Newness, trusting him for everything.